Vivian Castro Leon, who owns property in Jinapsan, located past Andersen Air Force Base on the northern end of Guam, says she has military guidelines to follow when accessing her land.
John I. Borja/PDN

James Peter Castro, a descendant and heir of original Jinapsan landowners, shows several identification cards he used to get access to the property via Andersen Air Force Base.(Photo: John I. Borja/PDN)

Every week, Vivian Castro Leon travels north, to her family’s land in Jinapsan.

The process begins at the Andersen Air Force Base gate, where she must show her identification as a landowner. There’s a designated gravel road along Tarague Beach that leads to the other end of the island, where the beachfront property is located.

“We don’t have unconditional access to our land,” Leon said.

Her ID, which has to be renewed every year, tells her what she can or cannot do when going past the military base gate. The family can stay only on their property and can’t venture off into lands that are not part of their lot.

However, Leon said, she can access Jinapsan whenever she wants. She also can sponsor as many as six people to accompany her to the land.

The Castro family has been reassured by the military that access to their land would not be affected by the planned live fire training range complex, to be built on Andersen Air Force Base’s Northwest Field, a plateau overlooking Jinapsan and Ritidian.

Joint Region Marianas Commander Rear Adm. Shoshana Chatfield and Marine Corps Activity Guam Maj. Timothy Patrick both have told local officials and residents that the complex, made up of five firing ranges and supporting structures, does not encroach on any private property in the area.

James Peter Castro, another Jinapsan descendant, said he and his family attended the public meetings regarding the Marine relocation projects and spoke with local leaders to make sure Jinapsan access remains.

“If you look at the map and see the lines that show the projection of the range, Jinapsan property isn’t in that area,” he said.

The planned live-fire training range complex will have five ranges on Andersen Air Force Base's Northwest Field.(Photo: Cid Caser/PDN)

Jinapsan land untaken

Leon is a descendant of Juan Rivera Castro, an original landowner of Jinapsan and Ritidian properties. Her grandfather operated a successful copra business on his land before World War II.

“Back then, he would take a whaling ship from (Hagåtña) to Ritidian to gather coconuts. To get to Jinapsan, he’d use a bull cart trail (from Ritidian),” Leon said.

That changed during the tides of war. In the early 1960s, the Department of the Navy condemned the lands of Ritidian and other northern properties so that they could be used for military defense installations, Leon said.

The Navy gave monetary compensation, but the original Ritidian landowners said the condemnation was unjust, so they took the Navy to court. The court ruled in the landowners’ favor, but only for the Navy to pay the families more than their initial compensation.

Jinapsan also was targeted for condemnation, but the court ruled there was no justification for those lands to be condemned. The court further mandated the Navy to ensure the Jinapsan landowners still would have complete access to their lands, according to Leon.

To this day, those Ritidian families still are fighting to return home. They watched as their lands transferred from the Department of Defense to the Department of the Interior and finally, to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Ritidian lands now serve as the Guam National Wildlife Refuge, protecting Guam’s endangered species.

Leon’s grandfather was one of the landowners who had to give up their lands to the military. Court documents show that he owned 115,502 square meters over two lots of land in Ritidian. His compensation was $25,410.44, including a provision that he and his family would still have access to Jinapsan.

But they couldn’t access Jinapsan through the Ritidian side anymore because it was condemned, James Castro said. The military instead told the family to access their land through Tarague Beach, located southeast of Jinapsan.

The military tried another time to claim the Jinapsan properties in the 1990s, around the time the northern lands were declared excess. Property owners were asked if they wanted to exchange their lands for excess lands.

Vivian Castro Leon and her cousin James Peter Castro are descendants and heirs of the original landowners of Jinapsan Beach, located past the Andersen Air Force Base on the northern end of the island. They are pictured at the Barrigada mayor's office on Oct. 12, 2017.(Photo: John I. Borja/PDN)

In an Oct. 11, 1992, statement to former Gov. and Sen. Carl Gutierrez, who was chairman of the Guam Legislature’s Committee on Ways and Means at the time, James Castro and his brother said that it would be disrespectful to accept land that is not theirs.

“The property to be declared excess was owned by other families who have a right to the return of that property when it is declared excess,” according to their statement. “For the Castro family to accept such an exchange offer would be an insult to that other family and would subject that other family to the same injustices that have existed for so many year on Guam.”

The Castro family ended up keeping their land. Instead of returning the excess land to the government of Guam, the Department of Defense transferred those lands to the Department of the Interior and then the U.S. Fish and Wildlife for critical habitat management, according to Leon.

The road leading to Jinapsan from Tarague wasn’t developed until a few years ago, so for decades the family had to traverse sand and water on their vehicles to get there. Their properties were completely inaccessible during high tides, Leon said.

Guam Del. Madeleine Bordallo was able to secure funds from the Federal Highway Administration to create a gravel path for the family to have easier access.

Moving forward

Leon and James Castro, speaking for themselves and not their family, say they’ve made peace with access to their Jinapsan property.

They said they understand the woes coming from Prutehi Litekyan: Save Ritidian, a grassroots group who opposes the live fire training range complex and states it will bring destruction to the historical, natural and spiritual properties of Ritidian and neighboring lands.

“Everybody was unjustly compensated. It’s a matter of how you move on with the issue,” James Castro said.

Leon said she was worried when the group had put out a social media post regarding the landowners who would be affected by firing ranges. The Castro family was included. She spoke with Sen. Tom Ada, D-Tamuning, who is a descendant of original Ritidian landowners, about the post, and she was told not to be worried by it.

James Castro said there needs to be a reliable network of information so that everyone, including the military, could be on the same page.

“Put the right cards on the table so we can all look at the same thing,” he said.